Top performance and customer orientation at eye level, not only when it counts, but especially when it does - that is what characterizes DATAGROUP's IT service. This makes the company a perfect partner for Koelnmesse GmbH, where it is "showtime" and "full concentration" at numerous events throughout the year. With its comprehensive service portfolio, DATAGROUP could win over Koelnmesse GmbH and now supports both corporate IT and the trade fair and event business as a full outsourcing service provider.
Flexible and comprehensive portfolio convinces
At Koelnmesse, boredom is a foreign word: The 1,000 employees plan, organize and manage around 80 events and trade fairs at four locations in Cologne every year. Either as organizers themselves or as support for third parties who want to offer an event in Cologne. Smooth processes in the background are crucial for each of these events in order to provide visitors with an incomparable experience. On the IT side, this means perfect preparation and follow-up of special IT requirements for each event as well as the reliability of the cash register and admission systems and information terminals during the event. And if something does go wrong, short response times are crucial, even in the evenings and at weekends.
For this challenging task, Koelnmesse was looking for an IT partner who was prepared to get involved in this setup and was a partner with the necessary expertise at eye level. DATAGROUP was able to score points in the tender with precisely this - the DATAGROUP experts gave their full commitment to penetrating the core of the trade fair business on the IT side. The modular CORBOX service portfolio was also convincing. This offers Koelnmesse standardized IT solutions from which they can choose the services they need. The successful tender was followed by the framework agreement: with an order volume of over EUR 21 million, this covers a term of 60 months with an extension option for a further 60 months.
From transition to full-service outsourcing
The transition started in February 2022, was completed on time and DATAGROUP has been responsible for all IT operations since January 2023. Full IT outsourcing means that all nine service areas of DATAGROUP's CORBOX portfolio are taken over for the customer Koelnmesse. This includes, among other things
- the service desk in combination with a strong on-site team, which is particularly available for trade fair events,
- an application hosting team experienced in the trade fair sector,
- ensuring IT operations by experienced IT service managers,
- professional SAP and database support,
- the operation of servers, storage and back-up capacities in the CORBOX Private Cloud,
- Support for the central network components on the exhibition grounds,
- all security-relevant services via the central SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and control via the SOC team (Security Operations Center),
- strong public cloud expertise and corresponding solutions in use.
In-demand cloud expertise in use
DATAGROUP also impresses Koelnmesse with the fact that its cloud experts provide support as a specialized service unit and contribute their strong public cloud expertise to the project. Microsoft cloud services such as Azure, Sharepoint Online, Exchange Online and all office and collaboration tools from M365 will be reliably operated and their use further developed. Cloud management and cloud governance services will also be added in the future. For Koelnmesse, this represents a major further development of its IT landscape, which was only possible thanks to DATAGROUP's expertise.
The project in figures
 around 800 tickets processed per month at the service desk |
 around 150 tickets processed per month in on-site service |
 around 900 clients supported |
 around 900 end users supported |
"For us, the overall picture in the cooperation with DATAGROUP is just right - I think you can say: 'Two people have found each other! The entire transition phase from the previous service provider was professionally managed by DATAGROUP and all schedules and promises were kept. Now that we are up and running, we appreciate the open and honest exchange with each other and the fact that the experts are always working with us on solutions. Especially during trade fair operations, it also shows how efficiently, professionally and quickly they solve challenges in IT operations"
About Koelnmesse GmbH
The Cologne exhibition center - with 285,000 m² of hall space and 100,000 m² of outdoor space, the third largest in Germany and among the top ten in the world - is located just a stone's throw from downtown Cologne and has excellent connections to the national and international transport network. Koelnmesse's key areas of expertise are "Global Competence in Food and FoodTec" with trade fairs such as Anuga and ISM in the food sector, "Global Competence in Furniture, Interiors and Design" for furnishing trade fairs such as imm cologne and ORGATEC, and "Digital Media, Entertainment and Mobility", which addresses important topics of the future with events such as gamescom and DMEXCO. Over 54,000 exhibiting companies from 122 countries and around 3 million visitors from more than 200 nations take part in Koelnmesse's regular events, which are held at different intervals. The internationality of the trade fairs is one of the highest in the world: on average, 70 percent of exhibitors and 45 percent of visitors come from abroad.
Further information
